THERE'LL BE SOME CHANGES MADE

Leon Panetta will become Robert Gates's replacement when he retires.  Many people do not know him well, other than when he was Chief of Staff for Clinton.  There is a very nice article written about him as head of the CIA.  Click here..

 Meanwhile, job losses are massive in the defense industries as contracts have stopped forthcoming.  We might expect to see more massive changes in our demand for outdated arms since wars are fought differently today than in previous decades.

I've already heard Republicans criticizing this choice with the belief that Petraeus should have had the job.  However, Petraeus has not been a politician nor run an agency in Washington.  He will cut his teeth at the CIA in this regard and, perhaps, some day will replace Panetta as Secretary of Defense.

Wikipedia has much to say about David Petraeus.  It is worth taking the time to read it since it is doubtful the media will cover it all.  It might be wishful thinking on my part, but things do seem to be turning favorably forward as the public, especially the middle class since we are the bulk of the public, have begun to use their voices and might even begin to drown out the well-paid liars who have taken over the center of attention for so long.

THE REPUBLICANS HAVE MORPHED THE PARTY OF LINCOLN TO SOMETHING NO LONGER RECOGNIZABLE AS HIS

2/15/10 has been a focus on Washington and Lincoln, sharing this day to celebrate their birthdays. Bush, our 43rd President who started an immoral war in Iraq, quoted Lincoln (as an idol) who said: "A war without morality will destroy the country." Bush almost succeeded in doing just that. It reminds me of Osdama bin Laden's threat to break the economy of the USA and makes one wonder how many of his people have infiltrated our financial system, corporations, banks, and unions to do just that.

Kevin Whitelaw of NPR writes: "The nation's top intelligence official told Congress on Tuesday (2/2/10) that the U.S. government is making significant progress against al-Qaida's terrorist network, despite several recent high-profile plots, while separately he issued a sharp new warning on an alarming rise in cyber attacks."

Dennis Blair, the director of national intelligence, in his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, quickly turned to al-Qaida, which he warned still has the capability to "recruit, train and deploy operatives" for terrorist plots inside the United States. There is no indication that those terrorist plots will be violent. Even al-Qaida must know how destructive white collar crimes can be.

Leon Panetta fears the greater threat is that al-Qaida is adapting their methods in ways that oftentimes make it difficult to detect." Males tend to think of war, power and physical victory. Cheney and Bush, both bullies, could never think out of the box to see that power is not limited to physical strength. Many years ago we learned that bringing down the system of trash collection can essentially stop the country from functioning. We now know that cyber crimes can do the same.

When will the big boys in government learn that they only reflect their advancing age and limited thinking when they open their mouths these days. The worst of them are the Republicans in the South who are still living their unresolved Civil War....and who erroneously call themselves Lincoln Republicans.

For anyone who remembers bin Laden's threat to our economy as I have, and have written about many times, you should read this article.

CIA INTERROGATORS (TERRORISTS?)

Nate Carlile in Think Progress on 8/24 writes that a CIA interrogator threatened to kill the detainee's children. If this makes any American proud of their country allowing this sort of things for years, those who have run our country are too powerful and we deserve the world's hatred for allowing those who perpetrated such abuse to go unpunished. I'm sincerely hoping that so many eyes on this problem will solve it in the near future.

The Obama administration is setting strict new standards for terror suspect treatment.

Carlile goes on to state that Eric Holder, Attorney General will appoint a special prosecutor decide (or prove the obvious?) whether CIA interrogators and contractors broke laws. Leon Panetta, trying to save his agency's reputation wants to call this an 'old issue' and insists we drop it and move on. There are a few of us in the country who do not think that is a good idea as it sends the wrong message to those who will repeat history, whether it worked or not. Actually, we are told that Panetta threatened to quit. If he wants to hide his agency's past I think he should resign.